It's payback time!

Exodus 21 and 22 give laws of restitution. If a man committed murder, he was to be put to death. If a man steals an ox, he was to repay with five oxen. If a man strikes his slave and knocks out a tooth or an eye, the slave was to be set free. Anything stolen had to be returned with interest. If a man's ox kills another man's ox, settlement was to be made.

Those laws established the protection of private property. If a person owned something and someone took it from him, restitution had to be made.

Few of us will be guilty of murder or theft on a grand scale. Few will be victims of murder or theft on a grand scale. Yet we can still follow this principle of restitution in our relationships.

Let's say you make an appointment to meet a friend at 3:00. Your friend shows up a little before three, but you don't get there until 3:30. Essentially, you have stolen 30 minutes of his time. In addition to the transaction of forgiveness, is there a way that you can make restitution for the 30 minutes?

Or you borrow your neighbor's chain saw and it doesn't work quite right when you're halfway through the project. In addition to asking your neighbor for forgiveness, you could take it to the shop to get it fixed.

Often we think that if we have gone through the forgiveness transaction, the issue is finished. But these two chapters indicate that restitution is also required. If you've done something that is going to cost someone else, you need to pick up the tab.